1. Technical Field
The invention relates to a system for reducing noxious fumes during the application of a heated roofing product on a roof. More particularly, the invention relates to a mobile unit in which the noxious fumes are removed from the liquid roofing supply tanker or kettle, and from a rooftop carrier for the liquid roofing product, reducing the escape of the noxious fumes produced by the heated roofing product into the surrounding atmosphere. Even more particularly, the invention relates to such a mobile unit having a filtration unit which collects the noxious fumes and removes the majority of the contaminants contained therein prior to discharging the cleaned fumes into the surrounding atmosphere. Furthermore, the invention relates to a mobile unit having an incineration unit which incinerates and then removes a portion of the contaminants by cooling of the contaminants before passing them through the filtration unit.
2. Background Information
A fume problem exists for roofing companies and their customers during the application of hot roofing materials to a roof for waterproofing the roof. Fumes from roofing tar, asphalt or other bituminous products can contaminate food or beverages, and are potentially hazardous to people inhaling the fumes. The fumes escape at a job site into the surrounding atmosphere from several areas, such as the tanker truck or kettle which holds the heated material to be applied to the roof, and/or the rooftop carrier which holds small amounts of the roofing material on the roof for application of the material by the roofers onto the roof. This problem has been recognized in the industry, and others have attempted to solve the same. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,770,088 shows a movable enclosure which moves along the roof and encloses the roofing material application nozzle within the confines of the enclosure to retard the escape of harmful materials and/or noxious fumes into the surrounding atmosphere.
Various other types of filtration units have been used for removing noxious fumes from various types of situations unrelated to the roofing industry, such as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,450,900, 4,512,245, 4,563,943, 4,804,392, 5,004,483, 5,036,754, 5,069,691, 5,191,909 and 5,281,246. Although these prior art fume removal devices and systems, many of which contain filters for purifying the collected fumes, they are not applicable to the roofing industry since it is necessary that the fume removal system and filtration unit be mobile, enabling the roofer to transport the system rapidly and inexpensively to various job sites in order to be used during the application of the roofing material to the roof.
Furthermore, none of the known prior art filtration systems incorporate an incineration stage, preferably using an open burner flame to convert oils contained within the fumes into dry particulates which then can be readily removed by conventional filter stages.
Furthermore, none of these prior art filtration units incorporate a cooling chamber for cooling heated fumes prior to passing the fumes through the filtration unit to assist and facilitate the removal of noxious materials therefrom.
Thus, the need exists for a system for the removal of noxious fumes during the application of heated roofing material to a roof in which the system is mobile, yet effective for removing the majority of the noxious fumes at a minimum of cost.